Chelsea’s post-Mourinho era begins with a victory

Guus Hiddink faces a battle to get Chelsea’s fans back on side after being confirmed as the club’s interim manager.

Chelsea have a new man at the helm following Jose Mourinho’s exit.

“If he has watched today and seen us recently, maybe he will see that we have been lacking a little bit of confidence because we haven’t been firing and playing as well as we would have liked”.

The 69-year-old Hiddink’s latest firefighting role comes with Chelsea only four points above the Premier League relegation zone following an alarming slump just seven months after sweeping to the title.

With Hiddink watching from the stand alongside former Chelsea hero Didier Drogba, Ivanovic headed an early goal in the 3-1 win at home to Sunderland on Saturday. There was a lot of pressure on us before the game, but listen, we brought that on ourselves. “So I’ve seen it before, he will come in and shake things up in a positive way and we will move forwards which is why the club made the decision”.

His first priority will be to breathe some life into Chelsea’s Premier League campaign after the champions lost nine of their first 16 matches this season – a calamitous run that ended with Mourinho’s dismissal on Friday (AEDT). “Then I’ll decide if I should stay in London longer”.

He added: “We don’t play to lose but we are responsible as well, we have top players so we shouldn’t be 15th in the league”. Obviously the supporters have a right to express their opinion.

Terry said the players needed to take responsibility for Mourinho’s sacking after their awful start to the season. I was happy to get in at half-time just 2-0 down.

“Our relationship is excellent and I think he would recognise I gave him everything and I would also recognise not only is he an exceptional coach but an exceptional person”.

“Hopefully together we can climb back up the table and we’re looking forward to starting working with him”.